MANILA – Creamline Cool Smashers are back to the finals after finishing off sister-team Choco Mucho Flying Titans with a 23-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-15 win in Game 2 of the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference on Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Diana Carlos spearheaded the offense with 23 points, including 19 attacks, while Jessica Galanza added 18 markers, with 16 attacks. The Cool Smashers wrapped up the best-of-three semis series at 2-0.
Alyssa Valdez backed them up with a solid 17-hit effort, while Jeanette Panaga also hit double figures on offense with 10 points, including some crucial hits in the fourth set for Creamline.
“We’re thankful that we were able to recover from our first set loss. We came up short but the team’s maturity and chemistry are there. We only have to play our game,” said Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses.
While the Flying Titans surprised the Cool Smashers with their solid net defense in the opening set, the latter went to their vaunted power game, raining Choco Mucho with 62 attacks points, 26 more than their sister team.
Creamline also came away with two decisive scoring runs in the last two sets, the first shattering a 15-all count with a six-point roll and the other breaking a 7-all game with a seven-point binge for a pair of breakaway romps.
“We really trained hard and studied Choco Mucho’s play,” said Galanza, who was named as the player of the game in the finals seat-clinching win due to her pivotal conversions in the last three sets.
Creamline, which failed to make it three-in-a-row after being beaten by Chery Tiggo Crossovers in last year’s finals, will face the winner of Cignal HD Spikers and Petro Gazz Angels series in the finals beginning on Wednesday.
It was a sorry defeat for the Flying Titans, who had appeared headed to extending the series with an impressive win in the opening set. But they slowed down in net defense in the next three.
Kat Tolentino finished with 14 points, Desiree Cheng added 13 points, while Bea De Leon made nine points in a three-set stint for the Flying Titans./PN